DEATH OF TE ROTI PIONEER

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1929, Page 6

DEATH OF TE ROTI PIONEER

CARVED HIS FARM OUT OF FOREST ONE OF THE ORIGINAL SETTLERS. A forest of virgin bush, no railway, no road; a track led into the wilderness, and up this supplies had to be. packed laboriously by horse. That was Te Roti nearly 50 years ago, when the late’ Mr. W. A. Cleaver, his wife and .his brother John set out to carve themselves a farm among the trees. Ihey had purchased a section of 99 acres at the first Crown sale of land in the district. The price was £3 12s an acre! To-day the property adjoins the junction of the branch line to Opunake and land has been sold at £llO and £l4O an acre! When Mr. William Abraham Cleaver died in New Plymouth on Monday at the age of 74, there was lost one of the original pioneers of the district. The only others surviving are Mr.,and Mrs. M. v Kelly, who preceded the Cleaver brothers into the bush and who still live on their farm. The hardships of those early days were calculated to daunt all but the most courageous. Like all the other settlers of the time, the Cleaver brothers had to adopt any means that offered in order to make a living while they were clearing their land. They took road contracts with bullock drays and they helped to cut the track for the main railway line that came through two or three years later. When a piece of ground was cleared sufficiently they grew potatoes and managed to get 23 tons to the acre among the stumps. They split wood and trucked it into the neighbouring settlements of Normanby and Hawera. They were well-known for their skill as blade-shearers and their services were sought by owners of sheep.. The only road through the district was the Mountain Road, and that was so rough that it was negotiable only by bullock drays and horses. When cows were first brought on to the place the Cleavers made butter and sold it for 4d a lb. Then they sold milk at 3d a gallon. Over 10 years after they entered the district the late Mr. Chew Chong established a dairy factory at Te Roti, but the returns to the suppliers were still very small, and they had to resort to other means to supplement their incomes. One of these was the gathering of fungus in season. Later on the Loan and Mercantile Agency, Ltd., 'built a creamery, but the following year the Eltham Co-opera-tive Dairy Co. opened one in opposition. To-day the same company has a cheese factory there. Added to the early troubles of the pioneers was the fact that the Maoris were in an angry mood. Te Whiti was. at Parihaka and at his instance the Natives commenced ploughing up the fields of the farmers to impress the Government that they believed . they ■had rights to the land. The Livingstones at Tokaora, not many miles away, had a plough run across their lawn. It was thought by the authorities that the settlers should be placed beyond the reach of the Maoris, whose attitude towards the pakehas was of an alarming nature. So orders were given that they should all move into Normanby in the meantime, taking with them what few implements they had and any other valuable possessions. Mrs. Cleaver well remembers the. camp of Armed Constabulary at Waihi, five miles from Te Roti. _ Mr. Cleaver’s parents arrived at Nelson from London by one of the very early ships. They took a farm and conducted a hotel at Richmond and there the family grew to. three boys and two girls. The father died and some time afterwards his widow remarried and took her children to a farm at •Featherston, in the Wairarapa, where William, now growing up, had a foretaste of what he was to experience later as a Miss Wakeling. Over 46 years ago they set out one day to cross the Rimutakas in a coach, in order to sail for Nelson and thence up the coast to New Plymouth. Then there was another coach journey into Inglewood. That young settlement was mostly standing bush and swamp, and they did not stay there long, but penetrated further into the province until they reached Normanby. There John Cleaver joined his brother and together they took up the Government section at Te Roti. ■ Twenty years later John Cleaver and his wife went across to the Hunter Road, but returned to Te Roti subsequently. Mr. John Cleaver died two years ago. Ten years ago Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver retired to New Plymouth, leaving' their son Harry to manage the farm. Here Mr. Cleaver joined the New Plymouth Bowling Club and renewed acquaintance with the late Mr. John Heslop. In the early days both brothers were keen, allround athletes, and were well-known competitors at the country meetings held whenever the hard-worked settlers could gather together. Many were the times that Mr. Heslop’s big form had towered over them to see that they wrestled correctly and fairly. . ’ Mr. William Cleaver is survived by a widow, four sons and six daughters. They are: —Messrs Arthur Cleave? (New Plymouth), William Cleaver (Auckland), Harry Cleaver (Te Roti), Fred Cleaver (Tokaora), Mesdames J. Kenny (Lltham), A. C. Bublitz (Inglewood),.J. R. Clegg (Lower Hutt), F. Burrell (Helens ville), E. Ridge (Waverley) and Dowland (Christchurch). Another daughter, Mrs. A. McCluggage, diedL some years ago. Mr. Cleaver will be buried in the Waihi cemetery, Normanby, today. _____